A Very Starkid Scavenger Hunt
by ravenclawdancer4999
Summary: On opening night of SPACE tour, the Starkids receive a challenge from Darren. If they can follow a series of riddles around Ann Arbor, they will receive a very special gift... Set the day before SPACE tour begins.
1. The Challenge

Lauren Lopez stepped out of her car into the brisk, November air of Ann Arbor and took a deep breath. She looked up at the all too familiar Walgreens Center at the University of Michigan, her lips playing into a smile. She strode through the entrance and hiked up the stairs to rehearsal room four. Pushing open the door, she laid eyes on some of her favorite people in the entire world.

"About time!" Joey shouted, bouncing over to give the petite girl a hug.

"I know, you were all desolate without me," Lauren gave an exaggerated sigh, flipping her hair over her shoulder; "You may begin now."

"You have no idea," Julia smiled and rolled her eyes, "Now, if you're done Queen Lopez, we have more pressing matters to attend to..."

"What?" she gasped in mock horror, picking up a British accent, "More important then moi? Insolent peasants!" To make her point, she flopped down on Brian's lap and sat on him like a throne. "I should cast all of you into my dungeon."

"Find another chair Lopez!" Brian said scathingly, dumping her out of his lap and into Joe Walker's.

"YOU ARE NOT PERMITTED TO TOUCH!" Lauren shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Jesus, Lo!" Walker yelped, clapping his hands over his ears, "We're all going to go deaf because of you!"

"I'll never understand how someone so small, can have a set of lungs like that," Meredith marveled. The rest of the group fell into loud banter, arguing back and forth about it. Jaime and Julia sat next to each other, silently watching the scene unfold. Finally, Julia grew impatient and tried to get the group's attention.

"Guys?" she asked, clearly exasperated, "Guys!" Finally, Jaime stepped in to help.

"SHUT UP!" Jaime screamed at the top of her voice, causing everyone to stop short. They all simply turned to her and stared, Jaime didn't normally raise her voice the way Lauren did. "Julia has something to say, if you don't mind."

"Thank you," Julia remarked, looking at her friend gratefully, "But anyhow, I received this envelope earlier today." She held up a plain, white envelope with nothing but the words, "Team Starkid," written in neat scrawl. "I figured that we should open it as a group." She ran her finger under the seal and pulled out a letter. "It says, 'Hey Starkids, you didn't think I'd forgotten about the SPACE tour did you? I'm sorry that I can't be there for the LA shows, but I wanted to send you guys a present for good luck..."

"Where's the present then?" Joe asked curiously, "Did anything else come with the note, Jules?"

"Hold your horses, Walker," she smiled, "There's more, let me finish reading. Before you ask 'Where's the present then?'"Julia stopped and smirked at Joe after reading this. He simply shrugged his shoulders and motioned for her to continue. "There's a catch. I've arranged a scavenger hunt with a series of clues, which will take you all over Ann Arbor. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to follow all the riddles until you've reached the end, where you'll receive your break-a-leg present from me. The first clue is on the back of this letter. This mission will be dangerous; I wish you the best of luck. Love, Darren."

"Leave it to Darren to come up with something like this," Dylan commented, "Only him..."

"What could he mean by 'dangerous?'?" Joey gulped, "You don't really think he's serious do you?"

"Who cares?" Lauren cried enthusiastically, "Read the riddle already, Jules!"

"Alright, alright," Julia complied, flipping the letter over, "Chuckles, guffaws, and giggles, laughs to name a few. All are things our friend Meredith, has earned at this venue." The entire group looked expectantly at their aforementioned friend.

"That's an easy one!" Meredith grinned, "It's where I had my first stand-up gig, it's the Comedy Showcase on East Liberty."

"Well, what are we all doing waiting around here for?" Walker announced, jumping up from his seat, "Come on!" The Starkids grabbed their stuff and stampeded down the stairs to the parking lot. Meredith jumped into the driver's seat of her SUV and Julia claimed the passenger seat, while Jaime and Lauren scrambled in behind them. Joe took control of his large truck, Brian taking the role as copilot while Joey and Dylan jumped into the back.

"Follow me!" Meredith yelled to Walker, making a left out of the parking lot.


	2. Hobbit and Hammerstein

About twenty minutes later, the two vehicles pulled into 314 East Liberty Street, the Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase. The Starkids followed Meredith inside the double doors and she strode up to the bar where a tall man was wiping down glasses.

"Hey, Pete," she greeted him, "In for a long night tonight?"

"I always am," he chuckled back, laying his rag aside "So, what can I do for you?"

"My friends and I," Meredith gestured to the group, "Were looking for any riddles or clues you might have seen lying around. By any chance have you seen anyone strange come in today?"

"Besides you lot?" he joked, earning a couple of scowls, "Not anyone out of the ordinary."

"Oh," Meredith sighed, "Thanks anyway, Pete, we're just going to look around for a while." She motioned for her friends to spread out and scour the room. After fifteen minutes had gone by, the Starkids had found nothing of importance.

"I know I'm not wrong about this place," Meredith muttered, "It's got to be here somewhere."

"Maybe since he mentioned you in the riddle, it has to do with a connection you two have," Brian suggested, "Is there anything here like that?"

"No," Meredith answered, shaking her head, "Nothing, except for...I'VE GOT IT!" The girl ran over to a poster hung on the wall, looked underneath the frame, and found a small slip of paper taped to the back. Once she had backed away, the title of the movie poster could be seen.

"The Hobbit," Julia pronounced, "Clever...read the next riddle, Mere."

"Thousands of tales held within, full of leaves bound to please. Rules don't change, day in, day out. Return on time or pay the fees," she read.

"If it's talking about leaves and tails, it should be the dog park," Joey murmured to himself, "But where does the last line fit in that?"

"No, look, Joey," Dylan pointed out, reading over Meredith's shoulder "It's talking about tales as in stories, the next clue must be at the library!" Everyone promptly ran out of the building to their cars. A few minutes later, the group arrived at the Ann Arbor District Library on Traverwood. The Starkids burst through the front doors, only to receive a harsh, disapproving glare from the receptionist.

"Sorry," Julia apologized in a whisper, "We'll be quiet, won't we?" She shot her friends a commanding glare, all of them gulped, and nodded furiously. The group traipsed into the next room and collapsed on the squishy armchairs and sofas. They all scanned the spacious library, filled to the brim with thousands of books.

"How the HELL are we supposed to find a tiny slip of paper in this place?" Walker muttered, "We could be here for months and not find anything..."

"I guess the best thing we can do is each take a section," Brian groaned, "Girls take fiction, we'll take nonfiction. Meet back here in ten minutes." They all scattered, searching shelf after shelf for anything that may have been out of place. What they didn't know, was that Nick Strauss sat at the back of the room, hidden behind a large newspaper. Once the group was out of range, he quickly pulled out his cell phone.

"They're here, wait ten minutes before sending clues," he texted.

"Thx Nick," Darren replied a minute later, "Get out before they see you." Nick quietly shut the phone, watched his friends in their frantic search, and waited silently for them to regroup so he could slip out. Sure enough, the Starkids had found nothing after the ten minutes had passed and met back up in the center of the room.

"Did you guys find anything?" Meredith asked.

"Zip," Joey sighed sadly, "What about you?"

"Nada," Lauren replied, clearly frustrated, "I can't believe Darren actually made it this hard, I mean-"A phone started beeping, cutting the petite girl off. Each person instinctively put their hand to their pocket to check if it was theirs.

"It's mine," Dylan admitted, pulling his cell out of his jean pocket, "Hold up guys, it's from Darren! Except...this doesn't make any sense, all it says is 2) F."

"I just got one too," Julia announced, "Mine says 4) 8." Phones continued to buzz in their owners' pockets, each containing a similar message. The Starkids puzzled over the eight texts they received

"Wait," Brian observed, "All of them are numbered one to eight. Maybe if we read them out and write them down in order, it'll make more sense. Who has number one?"

"I do," Meredith answered, "Mine is the letter N." Joey nodded and scribbled the letter down on his arm.

"F," Dylan repeated.

"7," Brian added.

"8," Julia continued.

"2," Walker nodded.

".1" Lauren singsonged

"4," Jaime piped up.

"Ha," Joey finished, but raised his eyebrows in confusion, "Wait, what? Is he just making fun of us?"

"This is insane, it's just a bunch of random letters and numbers!" Walker moaned, looking at the sequence written on Joey's arm, "What are we supposed to do now?"

"I'VE GOT IT!" Jaime yelped in comprehension, grabbing Richter's arm forcefully and yanking it towards her. The noise earned her several hushes from her friends and yet another dirty look from the receptionist. "See? It's a call number for a book!" All the while, Joey had whimpered in pain, his arm being twisted into unnatural positions.

"Great, now let go of my arm!" he squeaked, "I think you're pulling it out of its socket!" Jaime obeyed and Joey threw her a hateful glare while massaging his shoulder.

"I get it," Julia nodded, "It'll be in the nonfiction section, in the seven-hundreds."

"To the nonfiction section then!" Brian declared, allowing Jaime to lead the way. Once they had disappeared behind the set of shelves, Nick Strauss slipped out of the library, unseen by anyone. She quickly found the book, a large red novel.

"_The Hammersteins: A Musical Theater Family_," Jaime read off of the cover, "Well that's appropriate." She looked up at the smiling faces of her second family and opened to the first page of the book. Out fell a small piece of paper, fluttering gently to the ground. Brian gingerly picked it up and the Starkids urged him to read the riddle.

"While going out for snacks late at night, we all witnessed this firsthand. That when you perform immature acts, it will most definitely, get you banned." he read, a smile growing on his face, "I know _exactly_ where that one is, right Joe?"

"All too well, Holden," he smirked, "Looks like we're going to Walmart, guys."


	3. FOR NARNIA, AND FOR RUMBLEROAR!

"You guys got banned from a Walmart?" Meredith asked, half interested, half unsurprised, "Do I even want to know how?"

"Well, you see," Lauren cleared her throat, "It was when we were all young, carefree, innocent-"

"I doubt you've ever been innocent, Lo," Brian snickered, "Even the thought of it is absolutely ridiculous."

"Can it, Holden, before I have to do it for you!" she threatened, "But anyways, me, Darren, Brian, Jaime, Joey, and Walker ran out of snacks one night, and obviously we had to get more. So, we got to the Walmart, but then Walker here pointed out that the aisles were the perfect place to have piggyback races. We ended up doing that instead, and the stupid manager said that we were banned from then on because we could have 'hurt someone.'"

"Possibly one of our finest hours," Joey reminisced, "Good times, good times."

"What part of that story was supposed to surprise me?" Meredith rolled her eyes.

"Hey, it was finals week," Joe shrugged, "I'm pretty sure majority of the student body could have been categorized as legally insane, you can't blame us for momentarily losing our sanity."

"Joe, you can't lose what you never had," Dylan smirked. Walker lunged for Dylan menacingly, only to be cut off by Julia.

"Wait," Julia questioned, "Where were me, Mere, and Dylan when this happened?"

"Unlike the rest of us," Brian sighed, "You all were actually _studying _that week, instead of screwing around like a bunch of bums."

"I remember now," Meredith mused, "You tried to invite me over, but I ended up chucking something at your head. A hair dryer, wasn't it?"

"The details are kind of fuzzy," he chuckled, "But I remember you screaming at me and calling me an inconsiderate toe-rag of a friend. I had a bruise on my forehead for weeks after that. I told everyone I got in a fight with a jaguar..."

"I guess I was a tiny bit stressed out," she confessed.

"Mere, I said hello and you started muttering lines from Hamlet," Lauren remarked, "You were not stressed, you were mentally unstable."

"Same difference," Meredith shrugged, "But anyway, how are we supposed get in there if all of you are banned?"

"Easy," Dylan responded nonchalantly, "You, Julia, and I aren't banned. The three of us go in, get the clue, and bring it back out here."

"Sounds good to me," Julia nodded, then turned to the rest of the group, "You guys wait right here, we'll be back in a few minutes."

"Okay," Lauren chirped a little too brightly, "Just text us if you need anything!"

"Thanks, Lo," Julia replied slowly, looking at her suspiciously, "Come on Meredith, Dylan, let's go."

"Am I the only one who thought Lauren agreed to that _way_ too easily?" Meredith asked suspiciously, once they were out of earshot.

"No, I was thinking that too Mere," Dylan frowned as Julia nodded in agreement, "We can only pray that she doesn't do something stupid."

"We are still talking about Lauren right?" Julia questioned with mock seriousness, "The same girl who told me she wanted every freaking nook and cranny accounted for when we were spring cleaning?" Meredith and Dylan laughed heartily and agreed that time was of the essence in their mission.

As soon as the three of them were through the automatic doors, Lauren turned to her friends with an evil grin.

"I take it that you don't plan on waiting right here like Julia asked?" Walker asked, returning her sinister gaze.

"Not in the slightest," Lauren smirked, "I have a strategy of my own, that will teach them to leave us out. We'll have a little race shall we say, of who finds the clue first. I personally don't plan on losing to Jules, Mere, and Dylan, do you?" The rest of the group shook their heads, sharing interested glances. "Here's the deal, we'll split up. Brian, you distract the employees, Joey and Jaime, you'll keep the others distracted while Walker and I go in for the kill. Everyone got it?"

"No," Joey stated, earning a dirty look from Lauren, "I'm just kidding, Lopez! I got it."

"Walker," Lauren said solemnly, "Would you do me the great honor of being my noble steed?"

Joe snickered and gave her a sweeping bow.

"It would be my pleasure," he guffawed.

"Your humble servant and steed awaits m'lady," Joey proclaimed, gesturing towards himself. Jaime laughed and jumped on Joey's back. Joe held out his hand, Lauren grasped it, and leaped on to his back with great ease.

"CHHAAAAARRRGGGE!" the tiny girl screamed as Walker, Brian, and Joey all sprinted towards the entrance at breakneck speed. Lopez and Walker headed straight for the correct aisle, the other three Starkids in their wake. Joey and Jaime veered off when they spotted Meredith, Dylan, and Julia searching an aisle for Red Vines

"FOR NARNIA, AND FOR RUMBLEROAR!" Jaime yelled as Joey charged towards their friends. Unsure of what to do next, the three of them ran in the opposite direction. Jaime and Joey followed close behind, steering them as far away from the others as they could.

Lauren, Joe, and Brian approached the aisle and Lauren motioned for Brian to see if the coast was clear. He poked his head around the corner and spotted a sales lady restocking the shelves. Strolling casually down the aisle, he tapped the woman on the shoulder.

"Pardon me ma'am," Brian asked in the thickest southern accent he could muster, "I'm sorry to bother you, but can you help me find the feminine hygiene products? My lovely wife sent me to pick some up, but I, I'm afraid I don't have a clue what she wants, can you help me?" At this point, Lauren had buried her face in Joe's shoulder, trying to muffle her giggles whereas Walker had resorted to shoving his fist in his mouth.

"Of course dear," the elderly women nodded, squinting through her glasses, "Haven't I seen you somewhere before?"

"No, no!" Brian chuckled awkwardly, gently herding her away from the aisle, "My wife and I are just passing through, we're on our way to Winnipeg. A lot of people do tell me that I look like Leonardo de Caprio..." He winked at the pair, giving them the okay to find what they needed. Joe and Lauren spotted exactly what they were looking for, and quickly pulled the riddle from underneath it's shelf.

"Brian is by far one of the best liars I've ever seen," Walker remarked, hoisting Lopez back on to his back, "Let's go, I think I heard Dylan shouting back towards the produce aisle..." Once the pair had arrived, they witnessed a scene that anyone else would have found downright frightening. Joey had managed to pin Dylan to the wall and Jaime was sitting on top of Meredith while simultaneously pinning Julia's arms behind her back. Except Lauren and Joe didn't find it funny, they found it downright hysterical.

"I told you guys to _distract _them," Lauren gasped for air through her laughter, "Not pin them to the floor!"

"Well, this was the best we could do," Jaime smirked, "Given the circumstances."

"Why couldn't you just have waited outside like I told you?" Julia snapped, still being held down by Jaime.

"You act as though you don't know me at all, Jules," she grinned evilly, "That's not how I roll..."

"So you are risking getting caught in a place you've been banned from, just so you could get to the clue first?" Dylan groaned in exasperation.

"Pretty much," she shrugged, "And besides, this'll teach you to leave us out of all the fun."

"You are the craziest bitch I have ever met in my entire life," Dylan murmured.

"Thank you," Lauren beamed, "I try."

"But anyway, we found the riddle guys!" Joe exclaimed happily.

"Fucking fantastic," Meredith growled from underneath Jaime, "Now get off of me!"

"Do I have to?" Jaime, who had been enjoying tormenting her two friends, pouted. Lauren nodded sadly, and Jaime let the two girls go, Joey following the suit. Julia, Meredith, and Dylan all gave their captors furious glares that told them to sleep with one eye open that night

"Wait," Joey questioned, "Where's B-hole? I thought he was with you guys."

"He's in the tampon aisle," Walker replied nonchalantly, receiving several questioning looks, "Long story, but I guess we should find him and get out of here."


	4. Like Ice Cream, Revenge Will Be Sweet

Back on Brian's side of the store, he had endured the older women give him the pros and cons of every damn brand of tampon there was for the past ten minutes.

"Thank you kindly ma'am," he started cautiously in his deep southern drawl, grabbing the nearest box on the shelf, "I think these will be just fine, I should be going now-"

"Wait a minute," the elderly women interrupted, her eyes narrowing, "You're one of those college kids that we banned about a year ago. What are you doing here?"

"SHIT!" Brian yelped as she moved towards him and he ran as fast as he could in the other direction. He didn't stop until he ran straight into Walker.

"Hey, Holden," he greeted him, "We were just coming to get you and-"

"We've been spotted!" Brian panicked, "Abort mission! I repeat, abort mission! Let's get out of here!" Not needing to be told twice, the Starkids sprinted to the sliding doors and shot into their cars. They all slumped down the floorboards and waited for several minutes before peeking out the windows. Once it was determined that the coast was clear, the Starkids all ducked behind Walker's large pickup to determine where they needed to go next.

"Where did you find this riddle anyway? We looked through all the Red Vines and couldn't find a thing," Meredith remarked.

"Darren wouldn't have put it there, someone might have unknowingly picked up the riddle before we found it," Brian lectured, "He had to put it in a place that no one but him would go near."

"Squirt," Walker and Lauren stated plainly.

"Oh yeah, only Darren likes that shit," Dylan realized, "Read the clue, Joe,"

"Where a rocky road and moose tracks, are next to the milky way, Here's a slightly obvious hint, Joey's here, almost every day," Walker read. The entire group gave Joey a sideways glance and he blushed a bright shade of red.

"That is a LIE!" Joey protested, "I am NOT there every day..."

"WHERE?" everyone shouted.

"...Washtenaw Dairy," he murmured, "Fine, _maybe_ I'm there a tad more often then I should..."

"Come on then!" Lauren exclaimed, scrambling to her feet. Everyone else followed the suit and made their way to the ice cream shop. After walking through the door, everyone's eyes scanned around for anything unusual.

"Any ideas?" Walker asked.

"Split up, I guess?" Brian shrugged.

"Why don't you, Jaime, Joey, Walker, and Lopez check out the back room? You know, the one we had our AVPS cast party in? He probably put it in there. Me, Mere, and Dylan will just poke around out here to double check." Everyone nodded, agreeing with the assessment. The larger group left the room and Julia's eyes flickered over to table six. She motioned for her two friends to follow her.

"Darren and I used to come here almost every week when we were younger," Julia smiled fondly, "We always sat at this exact table." Reaching under the silver napkin holder, she extracted a tiny slip of paper.

"Good guess Jules," Dylan praised her warmly

"Would either of you be opposed to giving our dear friends a slice of revenge?" she whispered, glancing towards the back room. Both Dylan and Meredith gave Julia a look of approval and excitement. She read the slip of paper quickly, an evil smile, not unlike Lauren's, spread across her face. Julia slipped the riddle back into its hiding place and looked up at the two of them. "I've got a plan, follow me." The three Starkids quietly exited the shop and piled into Meredith's car.

"Where are we going?" Meredith looked at Julia questioningly, her foot hovering over the gas pedal.

"Well, to quote our friend, Darren," she grinned, "Back to the place where our story begins!"

"Gotcha," Meredith winked, firing up the engine, "University of Michigan it is!"


	5. Reunited At Last

Julia waited a few minutes before dialing Lauren's number.

"Hey Lauren, it's Jules, did you guys find anything yet?" Julia chatted easily, "No? Too bad. Listen, Clark just called me a few minutes ago. He needs me to help him load some things up for the tour, Meredith and Dyl are with me. When you find the next clue, just let us know where you guys are going next and we'll meet you there as quickly as we can... Thanks Lo, see you in a few!" She smirked and hung up her cell. "That was easier than I thought."

"When it comes to lying," Dylan chuckled, "You could even give Brian a run for his money." The trio arrived at the arts center shortly after and all of them stood in the lobby.

"Darren said, "Back to the place where our story begins," Julia contemplated, "Which means Studio One." Breaking into a run, they all sprinted down the hall and burst through the door. Standing in the center of the room was a boy with dark, curly hair and was wearing a huge grin.

"Hey guys," Darren greeted them warmly, "What's up?"

"DARREN?" they all exclaimed, attacking him in a hug, "You're the surprise?"

"Well, um," he said sheepishly, "Yeah, I am. They gave me some time off before we started filming again. I thought I should come see you guys off on your tour! I hope you guys aren't disappointed that it's just me, not a puppy or something like that..."

"Don't be ridiculous Darren!" Meredith scolded him affectionately, "You're the best present we could ask for!"

"Not that I'm not happy to see you guys," Darren asked, "But where are the others?"

"Oh," Julia grinned, "About that... Would you be interested in helping us play a little trick on them?"

"Always," Darren giggled, his eyes dancing with laughter. The group hatched a plan, and scrambled to hide in the janitor's closet

"Lo, just remembered that DC and I used to hang out at table six all the time, try looking there." Julia texted Lauren quickly.

"FOUND IT, thanks Jules! Meet us Studio One." Lauren replied a few moments later.

"K," Julia responded. She then turned to her friends and warned them they had about five minutes before the other Starkids arrived.

"Just remember though," Meredith warned, "Jaime is mine, I've got a bone to pick with her. Nobody sits on me and gets away with it!"

"Only if you leave Joey to me," Dylan chuckled evilly, "He'll be sorry he ever tried to mess with me..."

"Now, to throw of Lauren." Julia muttered, dialing her roommate's cell, "Hey Lo, it's me. Yeah, we're on our way, but traffic is backed up pretty badly. It might be a while before we can get there...Uh huh, see you then." She hung up promptly, then broke into a fit of giggles.

"Shhhhhhhhh!" Darren hissed, "I think I hear someone coming." Sure enough, they heard the other group loudly burst through the door and stampede down the hall to Studio One. Julia paused for a few seconds, then turned on the microphone she was holding and began to speak.

"Missing something?" she cackled in an unrecognizable voice, "You're too late, Dikrats, we've stolen your treasure and are holding it captive in a secret location. Turn yourselves in! Meet us in Studio Six within fifteen minutes, or you'll never see it again!" Julia gave one last cackle, turned off the microphone with a smirk, and pulled out her cell phone. "It's lucky that I still have Nick's key, or else we wouldn't have been able to get our hands on this sound equipment..."

"Damn, Jules," Darren said shakily, "You scared the shit out of me, and I was sitting right next to you."

"It's a gift," she shrugged, "Now, we wait."

After Brian, Jaime, Lauren, Joey, and Walker had entered the building, they headed straight for Studio One. Upon entering the room, they saw nothing out of the ordinary. Not ten seconds after they began to scour the room, a wicked laugh filled the room, causing all of them to jump.

"Missing something?" the mysterious voice laughed maniacally, "You're too late, Dikrats, we've stolen your treasure and are holding it captive in a secret location. Turn yourselves in! Meet us in Studio Six within ten minutes or you'll never see it again!"

"Wh-what was that?" Joey trembled.

"That voice," Jaime remarked with a puzzled look on her face, "It kind of sounded like Julia."

"It can't be." Lauren laughed, "She called me before we came in, she said that traffic was backed up and it would be a few minutes before she and the others could get here. It must be someone else because let's be honest, Jules is the _worst _liar." Everyone giggled at this and heartily agreed.

"I guess the only way to find out who this mysterious voice is," Brian reasoned, "Is to turn ourselves in. I have to admit, I'm curious to see what this treasure is..."

"I hope it's a puppy," Joey giggled.

"Joey, you always hope everything's a puppy," Walker rolled his eyes.

"So?" Joey pouted, following Brian out the door and up the staircase to the second floor. Nine minutes passed as Julia, Darren, Dylan and Meredith patiently waited in the dim closet. Dylan examined his watch and nodded at the three of them. It was time. The four Starkids crept up the staircase and stopped right outside the doorway of Studio Six.

"If there really is someone here," they heard Joe complain from within the room, "They're late."

"I don't even have a snack," Joey whined.

"Shut up Joey!" Jaime hissed, "I thought I heard something out-"

"ATTTTAAAAACKK!" Julia screamed, barreling through the door with her Super Soaker in hand. Meredith and Dylan followed the suit and they all sent streams of water straight into their opponents. Dylan squirted Joey square in the chest, along with Brian and Joe who were frantically trying to dodge.

"Good thing I remembered where Matt kept his secret stash of water guns," Dylan shouted over the commotion, "Isn't that right Joey?" He sent another jet stream of ice water towards the cowering boy. Meredith cornered Jaime and nailed her in the back of the neck with her water gun.

"THAT IS FUCKING FREEZING!" Jaime shrieked.

"You know what they say Jaime, revenge is a dish best served cold," Meredith taunted gleefully, sending another shot of ice cold water down her front. As predicted, Julia's main target was Lauren, who was still in complete and utter shock.

"I'm the worst liar huh?" Julia smirked evilly, backing her friend further and further into a corner. Lauren gave an uncharacteristically pitiful whimper as Julia sent a frigid blast into the small girl's face. Within the next minute, every unarmed Starkid was soaking wet and holding their arms up in surrender.

"Well, Jules," Lauren said with as much dignity as she could muster, "It seems that I've underestimated you in the past, well done. Come on guys, let's show them that now we're even." She nodded to Brian, Jaime, Joey, and Walker, cocking her head towards Meredith, Dylan, and Julia. Getting the message, they grinned and attacked their friends in sopping wet hugs. Not bothering to dodge, Meredith, Dylan, and Julia welcomed their damp friends with open arms. Once they were through, they were just as wet as everyone else.

"So where did you guys hide our treasure anyway?" Brian asked jokingly.

"Did somebody say Darren Criss?" the aforementioned Starkid strolled in casually, pretending to be taken aback by their appearance, "Aw, come on guys! I leave you alone for a few months and come back to find all of you looking like drowned rats?"

"Get used to it," Dylan grinned, "You'll be looking like that to in 3, 2," Before he had reached one, the entire group had engulfed Darren in the warmest, freezing cold hug he had ever known. He was finally home.


End file.
